2010-11 MOUNTAINEER WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
MOUNTAINEERS COACHING STAFF PROFILES OUTLOOK THE BIG EAST OPPONENT INFO 2009-10 REVIEW
best eight BIG EAST award winners. WVU reached as high as No. 7 in both major WVU, advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the third time in the last four years and posted a perfect 17-0 mark at the Coliseum, marking the most home wins in school history and the second undefeated season. Sarah Miles garnered the BIG EAST’s Defensive Player of the Year award and earned all-league second team and all-tournament team honors. Liz Repella became the program’s second first team Academic All-American and garnered all-BIG EAST first team, all-league tournament and Preseason WNIT all-tournament team honors. Freshman center Asya Bussie garnered unanimous all-BIG EAST freshman team honors, junior transfer Korinne Campbell earned all-league honorable mention honors and Carey earned Co-Coach of the Year accolades. In the last seven years, under Carey’s direction, WVU has advanced to the NCAA tournament second round (2006-07, 2007-08; 2009-10), the NCAA tournament (2003-04), the WNIT championship game (2004-05), the BIG EAST tournament finals (2005-06, 2009-10) and the second round of the WNIT (2008-09). The team has also posted five 21-win seasons during that time. Certainly, success and respect have found their way to the Mountaineer women’s basketball program.
THE RECORD BOOK
ASYA BUSSIE
WVU
for the 2006-07 campaign and the Mountaineers didn’t disappoint. WVU posted an 11-5 record in BIG EAST play earning its first-ever tournament first round bye as the No. 4 seed en route to a 21-11 overall mark. The league record also marked the second-best turnaround from one regular season to the next in the BIG EAST. WVU also was 13-1 at the WVU Coliseum, the second-best single season home mark in school history and eventually picked up its first NCAA tournament win since 1992 with a convincing 65-52 win over Xavier in Austin, Texas. The core of that team once again returned in 200708 ready to re-write the record books. WVU posted a 25-8 record which were the second-most wins in school history. The Mountaineers also boasted a 12-4 BIG EAST mark good for a third-place finish in the highly touted league, WVU’s highest finish in school history. Along the way, West Virginia upset No. 4 Rutgers, 63-54, the highest-ranked team the program has ever defeated. All told, WVU beat three ranked opponents including No. 14 Notre Dame and No. 18 Pitt. The Mountaineers were ranked in the nation’s Top 20 in the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ polls all season long, marking a school first. WVU was also ranked for the first time since 1992. With the largest senior class in school history, West Virginia boasted four career 1,000-point scorers, marking the second West Virginia team and 12th overall in NCAA history to have four on one team. WVU advanced to its second-straight NCAA Tournament as a five-seed and faced host No. 12 New Mexico in Albuquerque, N.M., in first round action. Thanks to Cole’s 22 points and 11 rebounds, the Mountaineers squeaked out a 61-60 victory in front of 9,633 partisan fans in one of the nation’s most hostile venues. The win gave West Virginia its second-straight NCAA second-round appearance. In 2008-09, and under arguably Carey’s best coaching job, the Mountaineers posted 18 wins with just seven healthy players as a rash of early season injuries depleted WVU’s reserves. Senior Takisha Granberry set a new single season record with 94 3-pointers made while the duo of Granberry and sophomore Liz Repella became just the second set of teammates to each score 500 points in the same season. Repella became just the fourth Mountaineer in school history to record 500 points and 250 rebounds in the same season while classmate Sarah Miles earned BIG EAST Most Improved Player accolades. WVU also won at No. 5 and national runnerup Louisville, marking the highest-ranked road victory in school history. Last year without any seniors and exceeding all expectations as the squad was predicted to finish ninth in the preseason BIG EAST Coaches’ Poll, the Mountaineers won a school record 29 games, won a program-best 13 BIG EAST contests, finished second in the regular season league standings and in the tournament, reeled off 16 consecutive wins during the season, the longest since 1992, and had a program-
MEDIA INFO
The next two seasons were tougher as the squad was on the road for the entire 1999-2000 season due to asbestos abatement at the Coliseum and suffered through injuries in 2000-01. The squad finished with a 11-44 overall record, 4-28 in the BIG EAST in those two years. Basil’s final record stood at 33-77 during her four seasons. Former Salem College men’s basketball coach and Clarksburg native Mike Carey was named the program’s sixth coach in the spring of 2001, and it didn’t take him long to work his magic. In his third season, Carey put together the third-most wins in school history with a 21-11 campaign in 2003-04. More importantly WVU returned to the NCAA Tournament after a 12-year hiatus. For his efforts, he was named BIG EAST Coach of the Year. In his first season, Carey guided the Mountaineers to a 14-14 record, a return trip to the BIG EAST Tournament after a one-year absence and the school’s first winning regular season in five years. In his second season at the helm, Carey led WVU to a 10-0 start en route to a 15-13 mark and the first winning season since 1996-97. The Mountaineers were also 11-0 in non-conference competition for the first time in school history. In 2004-05, Carey guided WVU to its secondconsecutive 20-win season with a 21-13 mark and a berth in the postseason WNIT championship game. It marked the first time in school history that WVU posted back-to-back 20-win seasons and back-toback post-season berths. The Mountaineers won a school record four postseason games while senior Yolanda Paige set the WVU career record with assists at 902 while sophomore guard Meg Bulger captured the BIG EAST scoring crown and became the first player in school history to be named to the league’s first team. Paige and Bulger were named honorable mention All-Americans by the AP and WBCA/Kodak, respectively. Despite his first losing record at WVU (15-16), Carey guided the 2005-06 Mountaineers to uncharted territory with a remarkable run to the BIG EAST tournament championship game, marking the first time in school history West Virginia had made it to the title game. As the No. 12 seed in the tournament WVU knocked off No. 5 Louisville, No. 4 St. John’s and No. 1 Rutgers and trailed No. 2 Connecticut by just one point with 30 seconds left in the championship game. The run was unprecedented. No previous 12-seed had even won a tournament game in the 23-year history of the BIG EAST women’s championship. The Huskies won the title by a 50-44 count but the Mountaineers captivated the national ESPN2 audience with one of the most remarkable runs in conference tournament history. Sophomore Chakhia Cole and junior Britney DavisWhite were named to the all-BIG EAST tournament, while Bulger garnered all-BIG EAST second team accolades and more importantly, Associated Press, honorable mention All-America honors. All five starters from that remarkable run returned
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